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By Mom Unplugged, October 15, 2007 12:01 am

I truly believe that the way to raise environmentally aware children is to instill a love and appreciation of nature at an early age.

Here are some ideas and resources to help parents encourage a love of nature in their children. Just one of these ideas alone may not make much of a difference, but a combination of several should begin to have an impact on the way children perceive the world we live in. I hope so anyhow! Please give some of these a try:

1) Get your kids outside! Go for a hike, or even a walk around the neighborhood. The National Wildlife Federation has a website for parents and kids called The Green Hour which is filled with ideas for what to do outside. Also check out Backyard Nature with Jim Conrad for 101 nature-oriented activities that change seasonally.

2) Have your kids plant a small garden. If you live in the city, have them plant a pot or two on the deck or even in a sunny window. Here are some of my tips for gardening with children: The Children’s Garden.

3) Subscribe to nature magazines for children such as Zoobooks (ages 4-12), Zootles (ages 2-5), National Geographic Kids (6-14), National Geographic Little Kids (ages 3-6), Ranger Rick (ages 7 and up), Your Big Backyard (ages 3-7) or for really little ones (ages 1-4) - try the National Wildlife Federation’s Wild Animal Baby. Not only do these magazines teach kids about nature, but they encourage reading too!

Note: Ranger Rick must have been around for eons, because even I remember getting it, and loving it, as a child.

4) Subscribe to a nature club such as the Arbor Day Foundation’s Nature Explore Club.

5) Put out a bird feeder, or better yet, a variety of bird feeders (hummingbird, thistle seed, suet feeders, platform feeders, peanuts in shells, as well as the traditional sunflower and millet varieties). Even in the city it should usually be possible to hang a small feeder outside a window. If you can put out a bird bath, especially a heated one for climates with cold winters, you will notice an even greater number of bird visitors.

6) Get a kit for raising butterflies, frogs, ladybugs, or hermit crabs for example.

Or how about an ant farm?

Or my personal favorite…sea monkeys!

7) Set an example. Whether we like it or not, kids model parents’ behaviors. Show your own interest in nature, and point out interesting animals, insects, plants etc. on a daily basis. To inspire yourself, I suggest reading Rachel Carson’s book The Sense of Wonder. Read my review of it here. Also, you can check out the adult resources here, at the Hooked on Nature website.

8) Come up with some nature-themed art projects for your children, or recycled art. Good resources for ideas are: Nature’s Art Box, Recycled Crafts Box, and Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children

If you are interested, I reviewed Earthways here.

9) Involve children in your recycling. Let them help sort. Take them with you when you drop it off. Older children might benefit from a book like Down-to-Earth Guide To Global Warming. Read my review here for more information.

10) Read nature-themed stories to your children. Here are some suggested reading lists by age from the Hooked on Nature website:

Ages 3-8
Ages 6-14

11) Set up a seasonal nature table in your home where children can display their outdoor finds. A fall table for example might have fall leaves, acorns, and pine cones, whereas a spring table might have spring flowers, feathers and grasses. Change the table seasonally and see what wonders your children come home with.

12) Start solstice celebrations in your home. Explain about the movement of the Earth, what causes the seasons, and what the solstice means. Last year we had our first annual solstice celebration on the winter solstice. We lit candles and had a special meal. The children gathered whatever they could find outside to create the centerpiece (pine branches, pine cones, rocks, and twigs). They still talk about that evening more than any other holiday celebration that we have had! I believe that being more aware of the natural rhythms of life, helps build an awareness of the importance of nature and the planet.

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I really wish I had begun this post three weeks ago instead of last night, because I know that there are many more great ideas for getting kids excited about nature and the environment. This will definitely have to be an ongoing project for me.

I hope you have enjoyed my ideas, and will find them useful. The main point is that children are the future of out planet. Get them outdoors and teach them just how wonderful our planet is…PLEASE!!!!

Comments (7)

By Mom Unplugged, September 12, 2007 9:21 pm

For someone who is supposed to be “unplugged,” I seem to spend quite a bit of time flitting about on Amazon. We have no decent local bookstore (sorry “Bookworm”), and I love books. Even our local library is poorly stocked. So that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Anyhow, one of my happy Amazon finds one day was this lovely book: The Sense of Wonder, by Rachel Carson. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the book, although the description and reviews on Amazon made it sound wonderful.

The text is a republication of a 1956 essay by “ahead of her time” environmental writer Rachel Carson (Essay: “Help Your Child to Wonder,” Woman’s Home Companion magazine, July 1956). In this edition, her inspiring words are accompanied by gorgeous, and often unusual, nature photographs by Nick Kelsh. As the dust jacket flap says: “Kelsh’s camera is drawn to patterns in nature that all too often elude hurried adults…” which is the whole point of Rachel Carson’s essay.

This is a big book (111 pages), but much of it is photography. I was easily able to read the whole thing in bed one night before going to sleep (and believe me, I am so tired at the end of the day that I don’t usually last long, no matter how good the book).

Rachel Carson writes about helping children discover nature, and about rediscovering nature with a childlike sense of wonder as an adult. This wonderful essay is a compilation of Carson’s thoughts about experiencing the world of Maine’s rocky coast with her nephew Roger. As she says:

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder…he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.” (p.55)

Carson speaks much of “feeling” vs. “knowing,” exploring with the senses rather than the intellect. She expresses her philosophy in this wonderful image:

“If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil.” (p.56)

Another all-too-true lesson from this book is that as adults, we tend not to see that which is available to us every day. We grown-ups lose ourselves in the artificial and mundane. We forget how to really observe and experience the world, and tend to take the nature around us for granted. Because we can see the stars almost every night, we never actually stop to take the opportunity to gaze at the stars! Just as when living near the Grand Canyon, for example, one never goes to visit it.

The next time you “see nature,” even if it is only a bird momentarily alighting on the railing of your city apartment balcony, Ms. Carson urges you to ask yourself:

“What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?” (p.67)

Relearn the observation of the natural world using all your senses. See the beauty and perfection, even in the tiniest of objects. Take a hike in the woods (or your local city park) equipped with only a magnifying glass and an eager child to see what beauty you can find.

I find this book to be so inspirational, every time I read it I want to immediately drop the laundry basket and rush outside with my children! Honestly, I could read it over and over again. It evokes in me the same feelings that I experienced while reading Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea(published in 1955). I simply can’t believe that these amazing women wrote these remarkable words fifty years ago.

There are many obvious differences between the two books, but deep down, they convey the same message and have the same peaceful and comforting “feel” about them. How interesting that they were written within one year of each other, both works taking place by the sea in New England, and both authored by extraordinary women. I wish I had a doctoral thesis to write (in all my free time) because I certainly see a fascinating one here.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any parent, especially those of the Waldorf, Montessori, or home school persuasion. If you are like me, you will want to read it over and over again. If you are still not convinced, then check it out of the library and I bet that after a quick read you will be ready to invest in a hardcover version of your very own.